VOA英语：美国人口普查人员开始统计美国游民人数
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Census Workers Search Camps, Shelters to Count Homeless Americans
美国人口普查人员开始统计美国游民人数
By Mario Ritter Jr.
24 September 2020
This week, workers for the United States Census Bureau will try to count homeless Americans.
本周，美国人口普查局的工作人员将开始统计美国游民。
The U.S. Constitution requires that a full census, or count, of the country's population take place every 10 years. The numbers help officials to shape congressional representation and decide how to spend federal money.
美国宪法要求每10年进行一次全国人口普查。这些数字可以帮助官员确定国会代表的组成以及决定如何花费联邦资金。
Al Fontenot is the associate director of the U.S. Census Bureau. He spoke to an advisory committee last week. He said the Bureau has identified about 49,000 places across the U.S. where homeless people will be counted. The places include more than 33,000 camps, almost 10,000 shelters and 5,000 soup kitchens.
方特诺特是美国人口普查局的副局长。他上周向一家咨询委员会发表了讲话。他说，该局已经确定了全美国约4.9万处游民的统计地点。这些地点包括3.3万多处难民营，近1万处避难所以及5千处施粥厨房。
Counting the homeless is one of the hardest jobs for the U.S. Census Bureau. The effort is beginning six months later than planned because of the COVID-19 health crisis.
统计游民是美国人口普查局最艰巨的任务之一。由于新冠肺炎健康危机的影响，这项工作的启动比原计划推辞了6个月。
Fontenot said, "We are making every effort to make sure that no one is left out of the count."
方特诺特表示：“我们正在尽一切努力确保没有人被漏计。”
A difficult job
艰巨任务
The delay means workers will be on the job during warmer weather, when homeless people are spread out across larger areas. Also, most homeless shelters are only operating at 25 percent to 50 percent capacity because of coronavirus restrictions. Some homeless activists worry that the Census Bureau will not count the whole homeless population.
普查推迟意味着工作人员做这项工作时是在天气变暖时，游民分散到了更大的区域。此外，由于新冠病毒限制，大多数游民收容场所只开放了25%到50%的容量。一些游民活动人士担心人口普查局不能统计到整个游民群体。
Mike Arnold leads of aid group Midnight Mission. It provides beds, meals and drug abuse treatment on Skid Row, a poor area in Los Angeles.
迈克·阿诺德领导了“午夜使命”这一援助组织。该组织在洛杉矶的贫民窟提供床位、餐食和药物滥用治疗。
Arnold said, "The best time to count is when it's cold and when it's dark, the way the county's count is done. Fewer people are moving around and people are bedded down."
阿诺德表示：“人口普查的最佳时间是寒冷的夜里，美国的人口普查就是这样做的。这时候很少有人走动，都躺在床上。”
Beth Shinn is a professor at Vanderbilt University in Tennessee who researches homelessness. She said trying to count people living outdoors will be hard.
贝斯·希恩是田纳西州范德比尔特大学一名研究游民的教授。她说统计生活在户外的游民很困难。
"People find places to be that aren't necessarily visible," Shinn said.
希恩表示：“人们都找不显眼的地方栖身。”
The homeless count is starting as the Census Bureau's effort to count people living in what is called transitory housing ends this month. About 12,500 census takers started visiting more than 60,000 RV parks, campgrounds, marinas and hotels where people often live temporarily.
随着美国人口普查局本月结束对居住在所谓临时住所中的人们的普查，对游民的普查即将开始。大约有12500名人口普查员造访了6万多个房车营地、露营区、码头和旅馆，这些通常是人们临时居住的地方。
All field operations for the 2020 census are set to end September 30.
2020年人口普查的所有现场操作都将在9月30日结束。
For the homeless count, if someone is sleeping, a census taker will count them without getting information about their age, race, sex or ethnic identity.
对于游民普查工作来说，如果有人睡着，人口普查员将会对他们进行统计，而不能获得关于其年龄、种族、性别或民族认同的信息。
Nowhere in the U.S. is the homeless crisis more visible than in Los Angeles. There, hundreds of people live in temporary shelters. A count last January by the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority reported that there were more than 66,400 homeless people living in Los Angeles County. That is an increase of more than 12 percent from the year before.
在美国，洛杉矶的游民危机最为明显。洛杉矶有成百上千人居住在临时庇护所。洛杉矶游民服务组织1月份的一项统计显示，洛杉矶县有超过66400人无家可归。与前一年相比增长了12%以上。
The wildfires in California only add to the difficulty of getting an exact count. Californian Democrat Jimmy Gomez is a member of the U.S. House of Representatives. He wonders if many people in the state will be counted at all. "That is a big concern with wildfires raging across California," he said.
加州的野火只会增加获得准确统计的难度。加州民主党人吉米·戈麦斯是美国众议院议员。他想知道加州是否会有很多人被计算在内。他说：“这是加州各地野火肆虐带来的一大隐忧。”
I'm Mario Ritter, Jr.
我是小马里奥·里特。
Words in This Story
transitory –adj. lasting for a short time, not permanent
visible –adj. capable of being seen
RV park –n. a place where people can park their vehicles to camp and spend the night often with special equipment for campers and motor homes
marina –n. a place on a river or lake on in a harbor where privately owned boats are kept
raging –adj. violent, wild
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